Thursday, February 1, 2018

I know I disappointed many of you when I retired in March of 2016 after 45 years in broadcasting. You felt sad to see me go and felt no one could ever replace me. I feel the same today seeing that the Voice of the Saints, Jim Henderson will no longer call the games. How can it ever sound the same? “Akeem drops the ball, Akeem drops the ball !!!” “Touchdown Saints!” “Porter intercepts the ball”, and of course…”Pigs fly & Hell freezes over”! What memories! Funny, Jim & I became friends over the years. We’re both Yankees (Me University of Michigan, Jim Syracuse). We’re one year apart age-wise (Jim’s older!), We both replaced legends (Me Nash, Jim Hap Glaudi) and we both decided to make NOLA home when we could have gone elsewhere. I like to fish…Jim LOVES to fish and has traveled the globe to do so. What many of you don’t know is Jim is truly FUNNY. He is the consummate storyteller whether it’s about sports, fishing or just life. He makes you feel good to be around him and you feel better to have known him. Having said all that, I still feel sad tonight knowing there will be no more of his commentaries nor his passionate voice…except on commercials! Ride on Jimbo, or Hondo as your close friends call you. You’ve earned it!

Almost an afterthought, our brief flirt with Spring (today’s high 76) will end as a cold front sweeps through before daybreak. Friday’s highs will be 15-20 degrees colder and you’ll need the jackets and sweaters again. Friday night’s parades will be cold (40s) but dry with some warming coming on Saturday(55-60). As an upper system approaches Saturday PM, some rain could break out for the night parades, but the daylight parades look dry. Rain should be gone early on Sunday with the day parades being dry. I really don’t want to go beyond Monday as models have flip-flopped in the 10-14 day time frame and I don’t feel comfortable (translation low confidence) telling you what will happen. For instance, Mardi Gras was looking wet & chilly but today’s runs have it dry & mild. Huh? Same goes for the major parades of next weekend. We need to wait until Tuesday & Wednesday before we have any confidence regarding the extended forecast. Arctic cold (25-30 below)is still up in Alaska and northern Canada, but RIGHT NOW the east coast trough is NOT forecasted to deepen allowing an Arctic blast to come down to us. I’ll be watching The Weather Channel tomorrow morning to see if the Groundhog sees his shadow. Right! Stay tuned!